SJ Editorial Team

Is a Big Bully Trying to Strong-arm a Tiny Startup into Surrendering its Business?

It certainly looks that way at first blush. Apparently venture capital firm Lightbank and one of its portfolio companies, WhosHere, are resorting to legal intimidation to pressure a tiny startup, Who’s Near Me, into surrendering its domain names, Facebook page, Twitter account, as well as pay over $5,100 in legal fees.

– http://myrete.com/ (We are not going to link to this site for two reasons. One is principle and the other is that their site doesn’t load. ) http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/http://myrete.com/ confirmed that was down at the time of this writing. Maybe somebody over there forgot to pay the hosting bill?)

However, the real thorn in Lightbody’s side appears to be the name more so than the domain. The company has issued an ultimate:

Kevin Systrom the CEO of Instagram is interviewed by some goofy dude. The company is only 2 years old, has less than 10 employees but has attracted 25 million iPhone user customers! Watch this interview .